In addition to projecting images for display, digital light projectors can perform 3D object scanning by employing structured or patterned light scanning techniques. According to such techniques, a known pattern of pixels, such as stripes, bars, or grids, for example, is projected onto a scene or environment. When viewed from a perspective other than that of the projector, the pattern is geometrically distorted due to the surface shapes of the environment. The distorted pattern(s) are captured by sensors, such as cameras, for example, and are used to determine 3D coordinates of the environment and enable a geometric reconstruction of the surface shapes.